Information and registration here. From the event website: CRISPR / Cas9 is a 3-year-old technology that is groundbreaking, controversial and developing fast. MIT Technology Review called it the ‘biggest biotech discovery of the century’. The technology makes gene-editing simple, affordable and precise. Right now, scientists are exploring the potential of the technology to cure a … Continue reading “MIT Enterprise Forum: The CRISPR Catch-22”
Category: Boston
Grail’s Discount, Pfizergan & Pricing Plans: Notes from the JPM Vortex
[Editor’s note: Deputy Biotechnology Editor Ben Fidler co-wrote this story] The week of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco kicked off with a rousing, sleeves-rolled-up defense of the drug industry’s pricing policies by Ron Cohen, CEO of the multiple sclerosis drug maker Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACOR]]) and new chair of the industry’s … Continue reading “Grail’s Discount, Pfizergan & Pricing Plans: Notes from the JPM Vortex”
Tech Startups Succeed With Top Talent, But Where Will They Park?
While companies are in the process of refining prototypes, hiring key employees, and nailing down investment, one overlooked area is where the business will be housed and, more specifically, where everyone will park. In Austin, it’s not just the new companies that are struggling with finding enough parking for their employees downtown. Established firms are … Continue reading “Tech Startups Succeed With Top Talent, But Where Will They Park?”
OurCrowd-Xconomy Study Documents Growth in Equity Crowdfunding
In a short few months, the number of people who can invest in equity crowdfunding will dramatically increase. In October, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a framework for allowing individual investors to participate in the new form of financing, which had previously been restricted to wealthy accredited investors. Those new rules go into … Continue reading “OurCrowd-Xconomy Study Documents Growth in Equity Crowdfunding”
Mega Deals Push 2015 VC to 15-Year High, But Slowdown Looming?
U.S. venture capitalists poured more money into private companies last year than they had since the height of the dot-com boom, but an investing drop off late in 2015 could signal that the VC gravy train is slowing down. New data out today show that VCs invested $58.8 billion across 4,380 deals in 2015. The … Continue reading “Mega Deals Push 2015 VC to 15-Year High, But Slowdown Looming?”
MoveWith Receives $3,000,000 Seed Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=32051b34-08ae-4786-a15e-d2138fcb1080 Date 1/15/2016 Company Name MoveWith Mailing Address 109 Kingston St. 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02111 USA Company Description We believe that great teachers are the key to leading a healthy and active life. They’re the ones who make sure we never run out of motivation and who keep us smiling through … Continue reading “MoveWith Receives $3,000,000 Seed Funding”
FDA Rejects BioMarin’s Duchenne Drug, Sarepta Up Next
The FDA on Thursday rejected an experimental drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy from BioMarin Pharmaceutical, a decision that doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise given the harsh criticism of the drug at an advisory panel in November. BioMarin (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BMRN]]), of San Rafael, CA, said that the FDA decided not to approve drisapersen (Kyndrisa) because … Continue reading “FDA Rejects BioMarin’s Duchenne Drug, Sarepta Up Next”
Euclid Analytics Pushes Customer Data Tracking Forward With $20M
[Updated 1/14/15, 12:45 p.m. See below.] Most cell phone users have received some sort of “push” text message, whether it’s a warning of a flash flood from a government agency or an unwanted pitch from a marketer who somehow got your personal information. As cell phones have become ubiquitous, more companies are attempting to glean information … Continue reading “Euclid Analytics Pushes Customer Data Tracking Forward With $20M”
Medical Test Validity Will Be Debated In 2016: 5 Storylines To Watch
Despite lots of headlines, an underappreciated storyline this year was the undercurrent surrounding the validity of medical tests: —The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a long Watchdog Report focused primarily on quality issues with waived lab tests, which don’t require FDA approval. —The headline of a shorter version in the Wall Street Journal asked whether lab … Continue reading “Medical Test Validity Will Be Debated In 2016: 5 Storylines To Watch”
Boston Tech Watch: DraftKings, HubSpot, New Balance, Zagster, & More
This week, we’re tracking the latest news from the daily fantasy sports industry, what’s happening inside HubSpot, new money for several local startups, and a pair of wearable devices from Massachusetts companies. (It’s not all GE.) Read on for details. —Boston-based DraftKings and New York-based FanDuel will be allowed to continue operating in New York … Continue reading “Boston Tech Watch: DraftKings, HubSpot, New Balance, Zagster, & More”
Eyeing First Trials, Syros Brings in $40M and More Crossovers
Publicly traded biotech stocks have been getting pounded during this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, but money is still flowing into privately held startups this week. The latest is Syros Pharmaceuticals, which continues to add to its syndicate of backers. Cambridge, MA-based Syros, a startup founded by Flagship Ventures and Arch Venture … Continue reading “Eyeing First Trials, Syros Brings in $40M and More Crossovers”
Boston Tech Scene Gains Big Anchor Tenant in General Electric
EMC, schmee-MC. We’ve got GE now. General Electric, one of the world’s biggest companies, will relocate its global headquarters from Fairfield, CT, to Boston, as first reported by the Boston Globe. The move was prompted by a change in corporate-tax policies in Connecticut last year. Boston ended up beating out New York and other cities … Continue reading “Boston Tech Scene Gains Big Anchor Tenant in General Electric”
Mcor Technologies Dives Into Desktop Niche of 3D Printing
Like a proud parent taking a child to their first day of school, Conor MacCormack, CEO of Mcor Technologies, last week at CES showed off his company’s latest entry in the 3D printing market: a full-color desktop model. MacCormack revealed some of the inner workings of the Mcor ARKe to me at the annual technology … Continue reading “Mcor Technologies Dives Into Desktop Niche of 3D Printing”
Zerto, Led By Two Brothers and Data Storage Vets, Scoops Up $50M
One of Boston’s most heavily funded data-recovery software companies just took in another pile of cash. Zerto said Wednesday it raised $50 million in a Series E round that brings its total venture capital haul to more than $110 million since it was founded in the late 2000s. Institutional Venture Partners led the new round. … Continue reading “Zerto, Led By Two Brothers and Data Storage Vets, Scoops Up $50M”
Announcing Robo Madness: The AI Explosion, March 31 at Google
After decades of research, artificial intelligence has hit the big time. So has robotics. Now companies of all sizes are using A.I. and robotics technologies from deep learning to computer vision to natural language processing to build their businesses—and impact our daily lives. Think Google, Facebook, Amazon, iRobot, Toyota, and a whole new generation of … Continue reading “Announcing Robo Madness: The AI Explosion, March 31 at Google”
Top 5 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement Online
Good teachers often say that “95 percent of good teaching is just getting students motivated.” Online learning presents a new opportunity to both measure engagement and create learning methods that increase it. Facebook sets the high bar for online engagement—65 percent of its billion-plus users are on the platform for an average of 40 minutes … Continue reading “Top 5 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement Online”
WeSpire Secures $621,306 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=22c8954f-0de5-47e3-a01c-355bc018c89d Date 1/13/2016 Company Name WeSpire Mailing Address 125 Kingston St. 6th Floor Boston, MA 02111 USA Company Description A pioneer in positive behavior change, WeSpire (formerly known as Practically Green) develops persuasive technology – combining dynamic content, social levers, and gamification to capture people’s imagination and produce meaningful results. We help … Continue reading “WeSpire Secures $621,306 New Funding”
Syros Pharmaceuticals Garners $40,000,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0a68ef48-0664-407b-9876-904a28d39488 Date 1/13/2016 Company Name Syros Pharmaceuticals Mailing Address 620 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Company Description Syros Pharmaceuticals is a life sciences company that is focused on treating disease by mapping gene regulatory circuits and modulating the factors that regulate gene expression. Syros has pioneered world-leading gene control research and … Continue reading “Syros Pharmaceuticals Garners $40,000,000 New Financing”
Zerto Obtains $50,000,000 Series E Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fc795870-541a-4f39-ad72-daef536603ab Date 1/13/2016 Company Name Zerto Mailing Address 27-43 Wormwood Street Boston, MA 02210 USA Company Description Zerto is the industry’s first hypervisor-based, virtual-aware, replication solution for tier-one applications. It closes a critical gap in cloud and enterprise business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR). Website http://www.zerto.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “Zerto Obtains $50,000,000 Series E Financing Round”
Catching Up with Captureproof, Hitlist, Glowforge, & Others at Eureka Park
A few years ago, it might have been outrageous to think of CES as an essential event to meet startups from across country. Given the explosive growth of this part of the annual technology conference, it makes one wonder if Eureka Park is now big enough to be its own show. Last week some 500 … Continue reading “Catching Up with Captureproof, Hitlist, Glowforge, & Others at Eureka Park”
Marketing Tech Starts Year Strong With 3 MA Deals
[Updated 1/12/16, 2:57 p.m. See below.] It’s still early in the year, but one of Massachusetts’s hottest tech sectors of 2016 is a potentially surprising one: marketing-related software. Investors have pumped nearly $40 million into a trio of local advertising and marketing software startups in the past week. The investments highlight some of the themes … Continue reading “Marketing Tech Starts Year Strong With 3 MA Deals”
Clear Ballot Out to Reinvent Voting Tech, One Oval at a Time
Here we are in 2016, a big U.S. election year, and yet voting technology is effectively still stuck in Bush v. Gore territory. In the early 2000s, there was a push to update decrepit systems used at the polls, but since then—basically nada. A number of tech companies are trying to do something about that. … Continue reading “Clear Ballot Out to Reinvent Voting Tech, One Oval at a Time”
Working Hard—and Smart—to Build Habits for a Lifetime
The turning point in my life that shaped my perspective on work happened at age 12. I had just done some landscaping for a friend’s dad and I thought I had done a great job. I overheard the father telling his wife that although he really cared for me and thought I was a great … Continue reading “Working Hard—and Smart—to Build Habits for a Lifetime”
Glimpsing Digital Publishing’s Future at Codex Hackathon at MIT
[Updated 1/12/16, 10:22 a.m. See below.] For the past 20 years, the story of the publishing industry has revolved largely around the rise of e-books, tablets, and Amazon. Call it “Digital Publishing 1.0.” But what will “Digital Publishing 2.0” look like? If the ideas born at a hackathon at the MIT Media Lab this past … Continue reading “Glimpsing Digital Publishing’s Future at Codex Hackathon at MIT”
DOTS Devices Receives $2,000,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=458c191f-6f17-4a42-a570-20e7231c4a7d Date 1/12/2016 Company Name DOTS Devices Mailing Address 16 Tech Circle Natick, MA 01760 USA Company Description DOTS is developing technology that would be used for rapid, on-the-spot detection of allergens, including food allergens. Website Undisclosed Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes … Continue reading “DOTS Devices Receives $2,000,000 Series A Round”
Ancera Lands $1,093,998 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e76e822c-fad7-49e0-970c-47926843db34 Date 1/12/2016 Company Name Ancera Mailing Address 21 Business Park Drive Branford, CT 06405 USA Company Description The company is developing a rapid, portable technology platform for the separation, quantitative detection and identification of minute concentrations of various pathogens from whole blood or other bodily fluids. Ancera’s platform is based on … Continue reading “Ancera Lands $1,093,998 New Financing Round”
Evergage Lands $10,000,000 Series B Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b645af14-dcd5-4274-8f48-6a5425063509 Date 1/12/2016 Company Name Evergage Mailing Address 212 Elm Street Somerville, MA 02144 USA Company Description Evergage delivers a market-leading real-time personalization platform for optimizing web conversions and customer success via dynamic content and inline messaging features, behavioral analytics and segmentation, and integrations with other top CRM and SaaS providers. Website … Continue reading “Evergage Lands $10,000,000 Series B Funding”
Juno Therapeutics Acquires AbVitro for $125,000,000
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=683edb1d-b5e6-4daf-b823-436db185bf80 Date 1/12/2016 Company Name AbVitro Mailing Address 27 Drydock Ave 6th Floor Boston, MA 02116 USA Company Description AbVitro is a venture backed next-generation antibody discovery focused on discovery of human-derived antibodies and biomarkers that are otherwise intractable using existing approaches. Website http://www.abvitro.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount $125,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Juno Therapeutics Acquires AbVitro for $125,000,000”
Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon
[Updated, 1/11/16. Corrected, 1/20/16. See below.] Microbiome company Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MCRB]]) has inked a deal with one of its top investors, Nestlé Health Science, that effectively turns the division of the Swiss food and nutrition giant into Seres’s main partner outside North America. The deal, which calls for Nestlé to pay Seres $120 million … Continue reading “Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon”
With Tensha Purchase, Roche Interest in Bradner Startups Continues
Roche may have a new investment plan: Where James Bradner has been, it follows. The Basel, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant announced this morning that it has bought Tensha Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based company founded by Bradner, a physician-scientist who is now the president of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Tensha is developing treatments for cancer … Continue reading “With Tensha Purchase, Roche Interest in Bradner Startups Continues”
AI Rising: Boston Tech Dives Into Robot Cars With New Toyota Lab
By now, almost everyone has heard about self-driving cars. When a New Yorker cartoon uses the technology as a premise, you know it has gone mainstream—at least in concept. The reality is that a huge amount of work lies ahead before robot cars will be accepted by society. Now it looks like the Boston area … Continue reading “AI Rising: Boston Tech Dives Into Robot Cars With New Toyota Lab”
Preparing For A Downturn—A Fintech CEO’s Take
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle How should entrepreneurs and investors prepare for a future downturn? The economy always operates with opposing forces. It’s expected that there will be downturns and upturns. Entrepreneurs and investors can find opportunities to prepare, possibly flourish, and possibly fall apart, if not ready to deal … Continue reading “Preparing For A Downturn—A Fintech CEO’s Take”
Demand for Broadband Gets Ahead of Expected Norms in Tech Development
The most notable and surprising trend I noticed in 2015 was that broadband bandwidth consumption appears to be outpacing Moore’s Law, by a long shot. The increase of our own customers’ usage was immense: Their bandwidth consumption more or less doubled for New York City in 2015, and that follows a doubling in 2014. I have not seen this … Continue reading “Demand for Broadband Gets Ahead of Expected Norms in Tech Development”
Warp Drive, Surface, Bamboo Cut Deals on Eve of J.P. Morgan
There’s always some last-minute dealmaking on the eve of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, and this year is no exception. Here are a few of the East Coast highlights to cross Xconomy’s radar screen as we gear up for this year’s festivities. —Sanofi and Warp Drive Bio have had a unique … Continue reading “Warp Drive, Surface, Bamboo Cut Deals on Eve of J.P. Morgan”
Roche Acquires Tensha Therapeutics for $535,000,000
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=064a2ea1-14db-4543-a154-7541eedb16b6 Date 1/11/2016 Company Name Tensha Therapeutics Mailing Address 55 Cambridge Parkway Cambridge, MA 02142 USA Company Description Tensha Therapeutics is developing small molecule bromodomain inhibitors, a new class of epigenetic modulators of gene expression, to treat cancer and other serious disorders. Website http://www.tenshatherapeutics.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount $535,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Roche Acquires Tensha Therapeutics for $535,000,000”
Accelerator, Gates Team Up in NY to Put $17M Into Rockefeller Startup
Seattle’s Accelerator Corp. made its long-awaited splash in New York last week with its first Manhattan biotech startup, Petra Pharma. Now here comes Lodo Therapeutics, Accelerator’s second startup, right in Petra’s wake. Lodo didn’t get the big $48 million round that Petra did last week. But the startup, built around the work of Rockefeller University … Continue reading “Accelerator, Gates Team Up in NY to Put $17M Into Rockefeller Startup”
Apple Buys Emotient, A Digital Analyst of Consumer Feelings
Apple has snapped up Emotient, a startup that scrutinizes human faces to gauge feelings and reactions, the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets are reporting. San Diego-based Emotient, founded in 2012, had been marketing its services to advertisers and researchers as a tool to predict how consumers would react to digital ads, movies, and … Continue reading “Apple Buys Emotient, A Digital Analyst of Consumer Feelings”
Car Wars: Mary Barra Talks GM’s Future, Nvidia Takes the Wheel at CES
Make way for autonomous cars on the highways ahead. That was a common theme from the auto industry at the CES technology trade show this week in Las Vegas. In years prior, carmakers tried almost too hard at CES to make their vehicles seem more hip by talking up connectivity and putting apps in cars … Continue reading “Car Wars: Mary Barra Talks GM’s Future, Nvidia Takes the Wheel at CES”
East Coast Bio Roundup: NY Startups, Editas, Bonney, C4 & (Much) More
Most everyone in biotech is on their way to San Francisco this weekend, making their annual trek to the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference for a few days of wall-to-wall meetings, schmoozing, and state-of-the-industry pontifications. But rather than get swallowed up by the conference maelstrom, biotechs try to get their big news out ahead of the … Continue reading “East Coast Bio Roundup: NY Startups, Editas, Bonney, C4 & (Much) More”
Predictions for 2016: Self-Driving Cars, AI, and Brain Monitoring
Whether we have been in a tech bubble or not is frankly not that interesting. What is interesting is that the foundation for innovation is as strong as we’ve ever seen and entrepreneurs are bringing the future to reality at an amazing pace. Here are a few of my predictions for what we’ll see in … Continue reading “Predictions for 2016: Self-Driving Cars, AI, and Brain Monitoring”
Ringing in the Years (and Ears): What I’d Like to Hear in 2016
For the last 30 years, the tech revolution in PCs, Macs, and Smartphones has been largely connected with our eyes, not our ears. 2016 will mark the beginning of the commercialization of virtual and augmented reality, and although our visual experience will continue to be the main focus for these radical changes, it’s time our … Continue reading “Ringing in the Years (and Ears): What I’d Like to Hear in 2016”
Myomo Garners $620,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=41592a0a-b0cd-4ba2-9b2c-65a1314a8550 Date 1/8/2016 Company Name Myomo Mailing Address One Broadway 14th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 USA Company Description Myomo is pioneering NeuroRobotics, a new category of non-invasive medical device technology to help people relearn how to move severely weak or partially paralyzed limbs. Originally an acronym for Muscle-Motion, Myomo (pronounced MY-O-MO) was … Continue reading “Myomo Garners $620,000 New Round”
C4 Therapeutics Lands $73,000,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f631cfa5-5f7f-4ac4-8de0-a02fbc6d0a91 Date 1/8/2016 Company Name C4 Therapeutics Mailing Address Undisclosed Cambridge, MA 10018 USA Company Description C4 Therapeutics is developing a new class of targeted protein degradation (TPD) therapeutics for the treatment of a broad range of diseases. Website http://www.c4thera.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $73,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds … Continue reading “C4 Therapeutics Lands $73,000,000 Series A Round”
Exosome Diagnostics Closes $60M Series B for Liquid Biopsy Test
It may have taken a couple of years, but Exosome Diagnostics has finally raised the money it said it wanted to potentially launch its liquid biopsy-based diagnostic test. Exosome announced today it has closed a $60 million Series B round of funding, money that it is putting toward getting its first oncology products on the … Continue reading “Exosome Diagnostics Closes $60M Series B for Liquid Biopsy Test”
Former Cubist CEO Mike Bonney Joins Third Rock Ventures
As CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Mike Bonney spent a decade building a mid-cap biotech company that eventually accepted a massive buyout. Now he’ll be helping start new companies from scratch. Bonney (pictured) has joined Boston-based Third Rock Ventures, which specializes in launching startups in cutting-edge areas of biomedicine. Third Rock also tends to start companies, … Continue reading “Former Cubist CEO Mike Bonney Joins Third Rock Ventures”
Massachusetts Aims to Raise Its Stature in Digital Health
Massachusetts is home to a sizable healthcare technology sector—some 250 companies, according to state estimates, including names like American Well, Athenahealth, Kyruus, PillPack, and Maxwell Health. But a group of prominent stakeholders from the public and private sectors wants to take the state’s digital health cluster to new heights. An initiative announced Thursday aims to … Continue reading “Massachusetts Aims to Raise Its Stature in Digital Health”
Xconomy Forum: Robo Madness: The A.I. Explosion
Major advances are happening in robotics and the driving force behind it—artificial intelligence. Now companies of all sizes are using emerging A.I. technologies from deep learning to computer vision to natural language processing to build their businesses—and impact our daily lives. Think Google, Facebook, iRobot, and a whole new generation of startups: the technologies are … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: Robo Madness: The A.I. Explosion”
Flash Sale: Web Retailer Gilt Groupe Sells to Hudson Bay for $250M
Discount fashion and merchandise retailer Gilt Groupe has sold itself in a fitting fashion: to Hudson Bay Co. for $250 million, a price tag that is a steep discount to the hefty billion-dollar valuation it once held. Hudson Bay, the operator of department store brands such as Saks Fifth Avenue, is trying to build on … Continue reading “Flash Sale: Web Retailer Gilt Groupe Sells to Hudson Bay for $250M”
Former Abbott, Melinta Exec Steps into Head Seat at Aegerion
Mary Szela has been named the CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AEGR]]). Szela replaces Sandford Smith, who has been Aegerion’s interim CEO since Marc Beer resigned in July. She’s coming off a stint as CEO of Melinta Therapeutics, and spent more than a decade at Abbott Laboratories before that. Smith, meanwhile, will serve … Continue reading “Former Abbott, Melinta Exec Steps into Head Seat at Aegerion”
UniQure’s Shares Rise on Early Gene Therapy Data For Hemophilia
There are a slew of gene therapy companies trying to develop a long-lasting, perhaps even permanent treatment for hemophilia. The proof that these companies can really make an impact on the disease will come out in dribs and drabs from clinical trials over the next several years, and today, one of them, Dutch firm UniQure, … Continue reading “UniQure’s Shares Rise on Early Gene Therapy Data For Hemophilia”